Lana, I'm still alive, and appreciate your concern. :)
Goats are gone gone gone. We got rid of Lyle about a month and a half ago, as he kept jumping the fence. Annnnnd, he ate a couple of my fruit trees. Just about a week ago, Cletus, my favorite goat, learned that he could walk over the electric netting. Then he taught the other three his neat trick. $200 worth of new fruit trees were destroyed. $&@&&$@!!!!! Very very angry owners. Like, "can we just shoot them" angry. So, I posted free goats on craigslist tonight. Within 1 hr of posting, they were gone. A nice gal about 10 minutes from us came and took them. She's a local 4H leader, and definitely knew her stuff.
The goats did a great job for us. They could clear 1/3 acre of brush and blackberries in less than 10 days. I'd rather have my fruit trees, though we're gonna have to pull out 7-10 trees and replant. :(
Problem animals don't have a place here. We're probably gonna butcher the two heritage turkeys tomorrow for that very reason. Though their wings are clipped, they keep getting on the chicken run, and have collapsed a couple sections. It's all a learning experience, eh?
Anyhoo, still lots of work to do. Will try to check in. Gotta tell about bird butchering, pig butchering (soon), eggs, garden, and more. Hope everyone is doing well!
7 comments:
Oh my gosh. I feel your pain. We are in the process of trying to get retirement property ready. And while we haven't spent quite that much on trees, I would be quite put out if an animal ate them. (I do worry what wild animals might do while we are not there.)
I envy you, in a way, because I bet those heritage turkeys will make a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.
Look forward to hearing about your pig butchering, too.
Glad to hear you are well.
Glad to have you back! So sorry about those goats - and the turkeys! Argh! We are enjoying the calm after taking a whole bunch of cockerels to the slaughterhouse yesterday. Ahhhh...peace and quiet!
Oh Rae! I'm soooo sorry about your fruit trees, especially because I suggested goats for the brush clearing. Really, really sorry....
I would've had the same reaction about my fruit trees. Nobody messes with mama's fruit trees. It's really great to know that they helped so much with the blackberries because our land is COVERED with their long thorny tendrils running all over the place and blocking our way throughout the dense undergrowth. I do think we'd be able to keep a few goats busy chomping away on a regular basis. We'll probably need about six goats, but I want to have a couple for milking, so they can clear the brush and provide goat milk.
So long gobble gobble turkeys. Are you going to process them? It's so close to Thanksgiving, it'd be kind of cool to have your own home-grown turkey.
Anyway, the electric fencing, I've heard, is a tricky thing with goats. They seem to be able to get through, under, over just about any kind of fencing.
I'm glad you're back and fighting mad about the trees! Craigslist was brilliant! I celebrate your freedom from problem animals. In fact, just today I posted about my frustrations with having dog hair in the house. If I could manage to get them into a decent outdoor doggie house...I would, but I think my husband and daughter would give me too much resistance. I'm stuck for now. But, I'll NEVER get big indoor dogs EVER again. At least I didn't have my fruit trees eaten, so you've put my complaint into perspective! :-)
Talk with you soon!
Thanks for the comment, Linda. It's all a learning experience. :)
Miriam, I hear ya on the cockerels. Literally. Our roo is a noisy boy. Can't imagine having more than just him around the place. :)
Paula, we had always considered getting goats, so no worries. They did do a good job clearing brush (and fruit trees). Not a good fit for our place. Live and learn. :)
Lana- the goats did great in the netting until Cletus figured out a way over/through. :) Problem is that we couldn't use them for clearing unless we either used netting, or put up a real fence. Real fence just wasn't going to work in our situation, so bye bye @&$$!! goats. Lol.
Dog hair.... Oooh buddy, we've got that too. Our pups are totally inside critters, especially my Henry Bob. They do call it "FURniture" for a reason. :) Here in another week or two, I'll write about our newest addition... A chiweenie/australian shepherd mix pup. I haven't written yet, as I don't know if he'll be able to stay (I think Henry thinks he's a squirrel... and Henry thinks squirrels are tasty)... Lol.
Have you seen the herd over at Mt. Angel Abbey? Those goats do do a heck of a job with poison oak, blackberries(natures razor wire) and such. But I hear ya, my three apple trees are my pride and joy.I'd be exasperated too. No I'd be mad as heck, and sorely tempted to have a goat roast. I would wait awhile for the turkeys, save them for holiday dinner.
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